Automatic sprinkler head

ABSTRACT

Fire extinguishing water is distributed uniformly over a predetermined area as the result of limiting the dimensions of the sprinkler head deflector to within a certain range. Further, leakage from the sprinkler head is prevented by a construction in which pressure force is exerted upon the low melting point metal of the heat sensitive portion whereby effective sealing pressure is maintained.

United States Patent [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] inventor Hiroshi Onulu' Tokyo, Japan m ML "J Wu" N k "u" N MW mm f m Mu mu m m ew "mnfiH w & E n c t nnd w Gin C0 H .l LHMMA M & 84467 36666 ff 99999.UM 111.1]. d ll/l/ fl 84227 m mxW 00662 93 3 Wm 11.9 01m 23696 m w J n iz pfiflfl 23333PAA d t L 0 C m u M, 9 n9 6 1 6 9w mm.9 2 Il e IA 02 NAm M, 6 2 7 2 u 42 Y 3 h m k m./L 4u aaM oo-JA TJJ P 0 08 N mm w. l. 8 n am o fla n AFPA P 1.11.] 1.1.1 253 23 2247 333 [[11 1.1.1

ABSTRACT: Fire extinguishing water is distributed uniforml over a predetermined area as the result of limitin sions of the sprinkler head deflector to within a c g the dimenertain range.

Further, leakage from the sprinkler head is prevented by a construction in which pressure force is exerted upon the low melting point metal of the heat sensitive portion whereby effective sealing pressure is maintained.

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DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER (m) INVENTOR HIROSHI ONUKI Eva/await WM A'VI'TORNEYS AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER HEAD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the sprinkler head of a tire extinguishing sprinkler.

Whether or not the water is distributed uniformly is a decisive factor in determining the efficiency of fire extinguishing sprinklers.

The ideal distribution of water is one in which the total quantity of water from the sprinkler is uniformly distributed over the floor surface to be protected making a circle centering around the point just under the sprinkler head, the quantity of water per unit area being equal. It is very difficult, however, to attain such an ideal distribution of water with the conventional sprinkler head. With the conventional head too much water is deflected in one direction with the result that too little water is distributed over one area and too much over another area. Moreover, the conventional head sometimes distributes water far beyond the area to be protected by that head so the unit quantity of water sprinkled over said area is reduced, the result being that not only is the fire extinguishing efficiency lowered down but also much of the water is wasted.

The efficiency of the sprinkler head according to the present invention is remarkably superior in comparison to the efficiency of prior art fire extinguishing sprinkler heads.

Further, the construction of the conventional sprinkler head is such as to apply tensile force and shearing force to the low melting point alloy component, so it is very weak against deformation, In contrast, the sprinkler head of this invention is constructed so as to apply compressive force to said alloy component so that the strength of the heat sensitive portion is greatly increased. Moreover, according to this invention the pressure applied by the setscrew to said low melting point alloy is substantially less than in the prior art devices so that it is possible to sufficiently increase the sealing pressure. Therefore, a sprinkler head that does not leak and yet operates accurately can be produced.

Thus, one object of the present invention is to provide a sprinkler head that distributes fire extinguishing water uniformly over the area to be protected, the quantity of water per unit area being equal.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sprinkler head so constructed as to apply sufficient pressure to the heat sensitive portion by effecting compressive force thereupon so that water does not leak from the sprinkler head when not in use but during operation water can be distributed perfectly.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear upon reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The deflector disk of the sprinkler head is provided with slits forming vanes, the end portions of which are bent 30 with respect to the horizontal plane. The difference between the radius of the bottom portion of said slit and that of the lower portion of the boss (A-B) is l-2 mm., and the difference between the radius of said bent portion of the deflector and that of said bottom portion of the slit (C-A) is 14 mm.

The portion supporting the heat sensitive portion of the sprinkler head comprises the strut 21 having branches 22, 23, the snake head shaped metal piece 24 which is approximately parallel to the strut 21, the metal piece 7 with the boss 9 perpendicular to the strut 21, and the heat sensitive portion clamped and supported between the boss 9 and the branch 23 of the strut 21.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of the vertical cross section of the sprinkler head of the present invention. FIG. 2 is the plan of the deflector. FIG. 3 is a side view of the vertical cross section of the deflector portion when it is secured to the frame. FIG. 4

shows the water distribution curves of the sprinkler head according to the present invention and that of the conventional sprinkler head. FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the components of the sprinkler head of this invention. FIG. 6 is a side view of the vertical cross section of FIG. 5. FIG. 7 is a side view of FIG. 6 when the sprinkler head is in the operational position.

Each component is identified by the same number in all the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION First of all, the construction and advantages of the deflector of the sprinkler head according to the present invention will be described.

The sprinkler head of this invention develops its efficiency when it is downwardly suspended from the ceiling so that the deflector is in the lower position. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the deflector disk is formed with divergent slits 5 and vanes 6 with the end portions thereof being bent l0-30 with respect to the horizontal plane. The boss 3 is connected to the frame 1 by arms la and is tapered with the upper edge 30 being rounded. The deflector 4 is secured to or made integrally with said boss 3 of the frame I said bent portions of said deflector being directed downwardly. In this construction, the sprinkler head comprises the boss and the dimensions of the deflector are such that the difference between the radius of the bottom portion of the slit 5 of the deflector 4 or the distance A from the center of said deflector to the bottom portion of said slit, as shown in FIG. 2, and the radius B of the lower portion 3b of the boss 3 of the frame 1 (the portion contacting the deflector) as shown in FIG. 3 is 1-2 mm; further, the end portions of the vanes 6 are bent at an angle of 10-30 the difference between said bending radius or the distance C from the center of said deflector to the bending point and said distance A being l-4 mm. However, the boss 3 and the deflector 4 may be integral rather than being separate parts.

With the sprinkler head having the above described construction water discharged through the noule 2 of the frame 1 hits the upper portion 3a of the boss 3 and then flows along the boss 3 because the corner is rounded. Since the boss 3 is tapered, the water flowing along the boss 3 steadily flows to the deflector and then it is sprinkled therefrom. As the deflector 4 is formed with the deep slits 5, water is sprinkled just under the sprinkler head and also to the remote places uniformly. Moreover, because the end portions of the deflec tor 4 are bent down, water is'not sprinkled too far but is concentrated within the area to be protected. Ninety percent of the total quantity of water is distributed over the area defined to be protected by the sprinkler head according to the present invention, whereas with the conventional sprinkler head only percent of the total quantity of water is distributed over said area. Moreover, the directional deflection of sprinkling is remarkably improved and sprinkling is done uniformly over every part of the area to be protected.

The water distribution curves of the sprinkler head of this invention are shown in FIG. 4. The curves were obtained by measuring the quantity of water received by receivers disposed on the floor radially in 24 directions centering around the point just under the sprinkler head, positioning the sprinkler head 3 m. high above said receivers and sprinkling water with a pressure of 1.0 kg./cm. Of the three curves shown in FIG. 4 the full line shows the distribution curve in a direction of the 24 directions of the sprinkler head of the present invention, the dotted line shows the curve obtained by plotting these 24 receivers placed in a certain distance from the center and measuring the minimum quantity of water received by the receiver by distance, and the chain line shows the distribution curve in a direction with the conventional sprinkler head.

Next, the improvement in construction of the heat sensitive portion of the sprinkler head according to the present invention will be described.

The upper portion of the plunger 12 is engaged with the spherical boss 9 of the metal piece 7. The recess 1 1 is provided in the lower portion of the cylinder 10 and the cavity 13 is formed in the upper portion of the plunger 12 so as to prevent the heat sensitive portions 10, 12 and 14 from slipping out.

The sprinkler head comprising the components as described above has the following function and characteristic. The clamping force of the setscrew is applied to the strut 21 from the ball 19 through the recess and the groove 26 of the metal piece 24. While, the groove 26 wherein the metal piece 24 engages with the strut 21 is more to the right than the recess 25 wherein said metal piece 24 engages with the ball 19, so the turning force works upon the metal piece 24 as shown by the arrow (A) in FIG. 7. As the upper end of the metal piece 24 is engaged with one end 8 of the metal piece 7, turning force is exerted upon the metal piece 7 pivotally around the engaging point of the strut 21 and the branch 22 through the turning force of the metal piece 24, which is then applied to the heat sensitive portions 10, 12 and 14. Namely, pressure is exerted thereupon so that the plunger 12 is pushed into the cylinder 10.

In case of fire the low melting point alloy 14 melts .and the molten metal flows out of the gap between the cylinder 10 and the plunger 12 due to the compressive force, the metal piece 7 is pivotally rotated around the engaging point of the strut 21 and the branch 22, and then it is disengaged from the metal piece 24. Thus, the metal piece 24 is rotated in the direction of the arrow (A) and put into the perfectly operative condition.

The components of the sprinkler head of the present invention are constructed as described below.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the basic construction consists of the strut 21 having the branches 22, 23 at its middle portion, the snake head shaped metal piece 24 with its lower portion being bent and the recess 25 and the groove 26 being formed in its lower and upper faces respectively, the metal piece 7, and the heat sensitive portions l0, l2 and 14.

The upper and lower ends of the strut 21 are cut out in wedgelike shape with the lower end being engaged with the groove 26 of the metal piece 24 and the upper end holding the valve 16. (Ref. FIG. 1) The middle portion of the strut 21 is bent in the branchlike shapes as shown in FIG. 6, the branch 22 bears against the metal piece 7 and the branch 23, against the lower portion of the heat sensitive portions 10, 12 and 14. The metal piece 24 supports the load between the ball 19 and the strut 21. The metal piece 7 is held by the branch 22 of the strut 21 with one end 8 of its bent portion holding the upper end of the metal piece 24, the other end forming the spherical boss 9 and engaging with the heat sensitive portions 10, 12 and 14. Said heat sensitive portions consist of the cylindrical heat sensitive body 10 filled with low melting point alloy 14 and covered with the bullet-nosed heat sensitive material 12. The lower portion of said cylindrical body 10 is held by the branch 23 of the strut 21. Moreover, the position where the upper portion of the heat sensitive material 12 contacts the metal piece 7 is slanted as shown in the drawings to prevent foreign matter from being deposited.

The sprinkler head is assembled, as shown in FIG. 1, with the valve 16, the packing 17 for preventing the fire extinguishing liquid from leaking out, the ball 19 and the setscrew 20 as well as the already described components, and the head is connected to the piping for fire extinguishing liquid by means of the upper threads of the frame 1. The sprinkler head is screwed up by means of the setscrew 20 so as to accurately operate the components and to prevent the fire extinguishing liquid from leaking by tightly holding the valve 16. In case of fire the components begin to operate as the temperature rises, then the components, the valve 16 and the packing 17 drop down and the fire extinguishing liquid gushes out of the nozzle 2 and is dispersed by the deflector disk 4 to extinguish the fire.

What I claim is:

1. A pendant sprinkler head including a frame locating a discharge nozzle and a deflector spaced relative to and under said nozzle, characterized in that:

said frame forms a boss of substantially truncated coneshaped, said boss being coaxial with said nozzle and diverging downwardly and having a rounded upper peripheral edge;

said deflector being fixed to the bottom of said boss coaxially with said nozzle and boss and comprising a disk provided with radial vanes defined by radial slits, said slits diverging outwardly at outwardly increasing angles, the ends of said vanes being bent downwardly at 10-30 with respect to the horizontal plane, the radial distance from the inner edges of said slits to the bottom periphery of said boss and to the bend points of said vanes being 1-2 mm. and l-4 mm., respectively.

2. A pendant sprinkler head including a frame locating a discharge nozzle and a deflector spaced relative to and under said nozzle, said frame forming at the lower end thereof a boss coaxial with said nozzle, and a heat sensitive valve mechanism positioned between said nozzle and said boss, said heat sensitive valve mechanism comprising;

a disk valve for covering the nozzle; s strut having an upper end, a lower end and upper and lower branches at the middle portion thereof; a first metal piece having an upper end and a lower end, said lower end joining a bent lug with a recess and a groove eccentrically provided respectively on the lower and upper surfaces of said lug; a second metal piece having one end bent downwardly and a spherical boss on the lower surface of the other end; a heat sensitive cylinder and plunger unit containing a piece of low melting point alloy; and a ball; and

said valve mechanism being assembled in such manner that said disk valve is supported against said nozzle by said upper end of said strut, said lower end of said strut engages with said groove, said second metal piece is supported at the upper surface thereof by said upper branch and is engaged at said bent end thereof by said upper end of said first metal piece, said heat sensitive cylinder and plunger unit is inserted between said spherical boss and said lower branch, and said ball is received between said recess and said boss of said frame. 

1. A pendant sprinkler head including a frame locating a discharge nozzle and a deflector spaced relative to and under said nozzle, characterized in that: said frame forms a boss of substantially truncated cone-shaped, said boss being coaxial with said nozzle and diverging downwardly and having a rounded upper peripheral edge; said deflector being fixed to the bottom of said boss coaxially with said nozzle and boss and comprising a disk provided with radial vanes defined by radial slits, said slits diverging outwardly at outwardly increasing angles, the ends of said vanes being bent downwardly at 10* -30* with respect to the horizontal plane, the radial distance from the inner edges of said slits to the bottom periphery of said boss and to the bend points of said vanes being 1-2 mm. and 1-4 mm., respectively.
 2. A pendant sprinkler head including a frame locating a discharge nozzle and a deflector spaced relative to and under said nozzle, said frame forming at the lower end thereof a boss coaxial with said nozzle, and a heat sensitive valve mechanism positioned between said nozzle and said boss, said heat sensitive valve mechanism comprising; a disk valve for covering the nozzle; s strut having an upper end, a lower end and upper and lower branches at the middle portion thereof; a first metal piece having an upper end and a lower end, said lower end joining a bent lug with a recess and a groove eccentrically provided respectively on the lower and upper surfaces of said lug; a second metal piece having one end bent downwardly and a spherical boss on the lower surface of the other end; a heat sensitive cylinder and plunger unit containing a piece of low melting point alloy; and a ball; and said valve mechanism being assembled in such manner that said disk valve is supported against said nozzle by said upper end of said strut, said lower end of said strut engages with said groove, said second metal piece is supported at the upper surface thereof by said upper branch and is engaged at said bent end thereof by said upper end of said first metal piece, said heat sensitive cylinder and plunger unit is inserted between said spherical boss and said lower branch, and said ball is received between said recess and said boss of said frame. 